Octopath Traveler 2, let's discover the news of the new JRPG in HD-2D by Square Enix
Octopath Traveler 2
The first Octopath Traveler was an extremely divisive RPG, if only because not everyone saw in the title Square Enix the much prophesied heir of Final Fantasy VI, but a still immature experiment that has however opened the doors to this new generation of Nostalgic RPGs and, at the same time, has cleared through one of the most popular graphic intuitions of recent years: the HD-2D style.That a sequel was in the works has been in the air for some time, and Nintendo showed it to us with a long trailer which, together with the Square Enix blog, bodes well.
Here's everything we know about Octopath Traveler 2.
Eight new heroes
Octopath Traveler II, the protagonists and the world are all new The first thing you need to know is that you do not need to have played Octopath Traveler before starting this sequel: Square Enix was keen to emphasize that the new RPG is completely detached from the previous one, takes place in a new world and features eight completely new heroes. The structure, however, appears to have remained unchanged. At the start of the game, the player chooses a sort of "leader", and from that moment on he can tackle the eight stories in the order he prefers, jumping from one character's chapter to another in the intermission moments. Square Enix has however promised to have worked on that aspect of the first title that had made many players turn up their noses: the plot.Let's take a step back. For the uninitiated, in the first Octopath Traveler the player could recruit the other protagonists during the chapter he was facing, and form a party that came to count all eight. The problem was that they offered virtually no interaction, undermining some particularly solemn moments of the narrative.
This was a shame, because some of the eight Octopath Traveler stories were really well written, thanks also to an excellent Italian adaptation that returned intense and passionate dialogues. Except that whenever something important happened to a certain character, all the others suddenly disappeared, breaking the illusion in an inelegant way. Square Enix seems to have improved this aspect of the narrative by adding a greater number of interactions between the characters, which even judging by some scenes in the trailer would seem to be more involved in the stories of the other protagonists.
If so, Octopath Traveler II would already take a huge step forward from the original, in which narratives were indirectly intertwined only in the prohibitive endgame, through an optional secondary mission.
Octopath Traveler II, Hikari is the prince of a feudal Japan-style reign a rehashing of the previous one: there is the priest, the warrior, the huntress, the thief, the merchant and so on. It makes sense because each character represents a starting class and, in fact, even Octopath Traveler II will allow the player to rehash the party and change classes, learning new skills that allow you to perfect each protagonist and experience new synergies.
I In addition, characters will still make use of the Travel Actions, but there is a novelty: the day / night cycle will change the Travel Action of each protagonist, and therefore it will be as if they had two each, for a total of sixteen. The samurai Hikari, for example, during the day will be able to challenge the NPCs in a duel and possibly receive new skills as a reward; at night, however, he can bribe them to obtain money, objects or information. This means that we will have to visit each area several times and with more characters, if we want to discover all it has to offer us.
A new world
Octopath Traveler II, it will also be possible to travel by boat As we said, playing the first Octopath Traveler is useless because the world in which the sequel takes place is completely different from Orsterra: it is called Solstitia and consists of two continents divided by the sea. Square Enix has also significantly changed the setting, which instead of being a marked fantasy, is inspired by the more realistic period of the industrial revolution, with steam engineering that is slowly taking over along with new technologies.The new context has induced Square Enix to work a lot on the scenarios, which now appear much more detailed, with a truly enchanting use of 3D and lighting and a more dynamic and creative movement of the camera and shots. Even the small 2D sprites appear more expressive and better animated, while the variety of scenarios is guaranteed both by the new contextualization and by the day / night cycle which, of course, doubles every setting, hopefully also in terms of content and not just visual.
Octopath Traveler II, the protagonists will interact much more often The possibility of using some means of transport, such as boats or ships, would suggest that the maps are wider and more articulated than in the previous episode, but on the other hand the trailer he didn't show us the dungeons in detail, which we hope are less mundane to explore. It is highly likely that our shifts are marred by random combat, although we continue to hope that Square Enix will implement an option to adjust the frequency, as in the previous game it was set a little too high and could only be reset. entirely with a specific skill.
The combat system shouldn't have changed that much: it will continue to revolve around Domination and Power modes, and therefore it will be important to consider when to accumulate AP and when to download it to boost attacks or spells. Taking advantage of the enemy's vulnerabilities weakens the shield that protects it, until it is completely removed: at that point, the target is stunned and takes more damage over a period of time. The trick is to balance the accumulation and consumption of AP to stun the enemy at the right moment and prevent him from launching his most powerful attacks.
Octopath Traveler II, the HD-2D style has been greatly improved In the hope that Square Enix has better balanced the clashes - especially the bosses, pleasantly challenging but in the long run too tough - and the level of difficulty in general, we take note of an addition that seems really interesting: the latent power. Represented by an indicator that charges by hitting enemies and inducing them into a state of Dominion, the latent power is nothing more than a kind of spectacular super move that can turn the tide of battle, and therefore must be juggled carefully.
Square Enix would seem to have taken into consideration the criticisms addressed to its first Octopath Traveler, a forerunner who could find the square in this promising sequel. The angularity we encountered playing the first episode has been filed down, and now we just have to concretely evaluate the work done on the intertwined narrative, on the exploration of the new world and on the revised and corrected combat system when the game comes out for Nintendo Switch. PlayStation 4, Playstation 5 and PC.
